A Job, A Job and A Few More Jobs

Hey Folks,

Yes it’s that time again! We've made it into April and the blog is well overdue another update I suspect. What have I been up to then? Well the short answer I suppose would be working, but whilst this may indeed be an easier and more accurate summation of the last few weeks it hardly makes for an interesting read now does it. In order to completely ignore the work based shenanigans I’ve been enduring since my previous post, I've decided instead to use this entry to try and organise my exponentially expanding "to-do" list into some semblance of order.

The upside of entering the month of April is that we can now enjoy lighter evenings and (in theory) some respite from the wintry weather, the downside is that it means I now have less than two months to try and get everything sorted before I hit the trail. This might seem like a long time and in terms of hours/days I suppose it is, but throw in a full time job and a multitude of house warming parties that require my presence (why have you all chosen April as the month to move!) and it suddenly becomes no time at all. This time deficit is further compounded by the seemingly unending quantity of tasks I appear to have left to do. Every job that I complete seems to somehow spawn two further jobs and I find myself thinking that if only I could replicate this technique with £10 notes then perhaps I could pack in the job and actually have time to do some planning. Hmm, I've just noticed that I seem to be moaning a lot this evening. Apologies, I shall henceforth attempt to be relentlessly chipper, well at least for the remainder of this blog entry anyway. So without further ado, my to-do list as it stands at the mo:

-Gear

Whilst less is most definitely more on a trip of this nature, my current pile of equipment is bordering on the ambitious side of minimalist. In no particular order, I still need:

- Backpack (I have one on loan from my brother but I suspect it may be a bit on the heavy side)
- Waterproof cover (for said backpack)
- Sewing kit (with so few clothes repair might be the only option)
- Compass (on order)
- Lighter/flint/matches (also on order)
- Emergency survival gear (blanket, whistle, first aid etc)
- Hydration pack (on order)
- Camping food
- Batteries
- Diary
- Youth Hostel membership (not really gear but I need it regardless to save a few pennies)
- Light weight trousers
- Waterproof trousers
- Gaiters
- Light weight shirts
- Printed shirt with 'Rambling Man' logo (has to be done for full cheesy photograph effect)
- Fleece/Jacket/Jumper
- Walking socks
- Bandanna's (got to love the pirate look)
- Gloves
- Smarter shirt (for evenings in the pub)
- Spare shoelaces
- Toiletries
- Water purifying tablets
- Sleeping bag (this is next on my list if I can find one that doesn't require a mortgage)
- Pillow
- Roll mat (on order)
- Gas for stove
- Mug for tea (most important item in the list probably)
- Midge repellent
- Sunscreen

There's probably stuff I've forgotten, but hopefully it will occur to me at some point before I reach Land's End.

- Accommodation

Thanks to the Easter break I now have my list of places to stay each night but I've yet to book any of them. To be honest, I can't really book more than 10 days in advance (and probably less than that) as until I get out on the trail it's very difficult to anticipate when I'll feel like a day off from the walking. Of course, taking a day off at some point will bugger up the schedule for any accommodation I've booked in advance so I'm a bit stuck in that regard. The problem is that some parts of my route follow the popular national trails such as the Pennine Way or Cotswold Way and the quantity of hikers on these during the summer months means that accommodation can get pretty busy. I therefore have two options as I see it, I can either a) book the place and risk losing my deposit if I get delayed on route or b) not book it and risk finding the only place within walking distance already crammed to the rafters with weary ramblers. Decisions Decisions.

- Maps/Food Parcels

As you know from the last post, my maps all sorted but given that I have 54 of them and I'm not quite insane enough to try and carry them all at once, I need to find someway of picking up fresh bundles at regular intervals across the country. The best idea that has been suggested is to work out which ones I'll need between consecutive B&B's and mail the appropriate bundle in advance to be collected as I pass through. This does of course assume the co-operation of the B&B owner and doesn't take into account the potential for packages to go astray in the post, but it’s still the best idea I've heard thus far. Whilst I'm doing this I might as well do the same with food parcels and then at least I'll know I have a stash of supplies every week or so which should take the pressure off trying to find a handy Tesco's in amongst the Pennines.

- Fundraising

I'm sure you’re aware by now that one of the goals of this little jaunt of mine besides the satisfaction of achieving it, is to raise a good chunk of money for Katharine House Hospice. My target is £1000 though at the time of writing I'm a mere 6% of the way there (come on folks break out the card and do your bit for a good cause!!) so there's still plenty of work to be done on that front. I had my first meeting with Adele over at the hospice the other evening and with her help we've come up with a few ideas for trying to exceed that £1000 target. I've now got a list of contacts for the local papers/magazines and hopefully if they're interested I might be able to spread the word and grab a few more donations from the locals. Adele has also kindly agreed (cheers Adele by the way) to get hold of a Katharine House tee shirt for me to wear on my travels. So if you see an unkempt figure go trundling by with a hospice shirt on, be sure to flag me down and add your name to the sponsors list.

- Training

This one needs no real description, I'm going to have to walk a long way this summer and hence I really need to get used to walking a long way before then. The problem is not a lack of enthusiasm (I love to walk, hence the whole 3 month walk thing) or a lack a places to do it, but simply a lack of time. I've read now on numerous blogs that the best advice is to go on a good long multiple day hike in the weeks leading up to your departure. It seems these people either have incredibly understanding employers or else they have rather more resources to fall back on than I do myself. In the weeks leading up to 'my' departure I shall be busy beavering away at the office trying to gather the money to fund this little expedition, so I think I'll have to settle for regular evening/weekend walking instead.

- Blogging

I've decided that I need to be stricter with myself in terms of the frequency of my blog posts. From now on I'm going to try and get at least one post a week and given each post essentially takes up a whole evening in itself, that might be a tall order. I'm not increasing the workload out of pure masochistic insanity but rather I think that this is probably the best way to prepare my muse for the task ahead. I also need to try out the ghost writing system I've arranged with my family to make sure everything's going to work properly and keep you all abreast of my experiences as I meander up the country (albeit a week or so behind the event). That being the case you can expect to enjoy (well you never know) even more rambling accounts over the next couple of months.

So there you have it. Not too much to do really (gulp) though I feel certain that there are still things missing from the list but I'm sure they will reveal themselves at the least convenient moment. If anyone has any suggestions then please don’t be shy about hitting that comment button and letting me know, I'd certainly appreciate the advice.

That’s all for now.

Stay tuned folks.

A Show, A Tent and An Empty Wallet

Evening all,

Belated "Happy Easter" to you all! Hope everyone has managed to kick back and recharge the batteries a bit over the bank holiday despite the miserable weather. I was planning to get out to the Peaks and do a spot of walking/camping for a few days but the thought of putting up my tent in the snow rather put me off I'm afraid. To those of you who rather pessimistically see this as a lack of commitment to my project, let me remind you that I haven’t actually started yet, so if I decide to stay indoors a scoff down chocolaty Easter egg goodness rather than tromp around the countryside in a blizzard I think I'm well within my rights to do so. That said the inclement weather may have been a blessing in disguise as it forced me to put away my boots and break out my hoard of maps and crack on with a job I've been putting off for far too long.

I decided early on that rather than winging it this summer, I'd prefer to cobble together some sort of route plan before I actually set off. That's not to say that my path won't alter once I hit the trail, as I'm fully expecting to get lost, delayed and if last 'summer' is anything to go by, forced to navigate around flooded sections of the route. However having a battle plan before setting off will at least give me realistic targets for each day and it means I can book my accommodation a bit in advance and avoid any overnighters in the local bus stop. With the benefits clear then, why should I put such a task in my ever expanding 'to-do' pile? I suppose it's partly down to laziness, but before you turn away in disgust please bear in mind with a journey of 1100 miles over 54 1:25,000 OS maps through some of the more remote parts of the country, finding a chain of suitable accommodation within walking distance of each over is far from a ten minute task. In fact it has taken pretty much every waking hour of my four day Easter holiday to finish, but finish it I did and to be entirely honest I'm quite glad it’s over. Now I've just got to give my chosen establishments a call for current prices, availability etc but the hard part is out of the way at least. I'll try to find some way of posting up my tentative itinery on here somewhere, that way if any of you fancy joining me for a day or two on my ramble then you'll have a vague idea of where I'll be and when.

Now that I've finished boring you into a coma about all things map related (having spent so much time on the sodding things I thought it at least merited a mention here) I can mix things up a bit and bore you about something else. Namely my trip with my mate Rob to The Outdoor Show at the NEC a couple of weeks ago. I'm sure some of you may have been to one of these shows in the past, but if you haven’t then I'd definitely recommend going along for a look if you get the chance next year. Given the sheer size of the place, and the variety of exhibitions on display it would be pretty much impossible to not find something you're at least remotely interested in. My plan for the day given my impending trek was to have a good rummage though the hiking stalls and stores and try to get some ideas of suitable clothing and equipment to accompany me on my journey. Rob being an outdoorsy type chap and also rather more knowledgeable about hiking gear than myself, agreed to join me for the day and give me some pointers. It must be said that as I was there for ideas, I had no intention of actually purchasing anything but despite this I somehow came away with a new pair of walking trousers, a fancy new tent and a sharp pain in my wallet. In my defense, I was offered a special 10% 'show discount' and given that I'm planning on a whole lot of camping in the near future I thought I may as well break out the cash now as later and at least I'll be able to practice lugging it about on my next few walks.

Thankfully, I was soon distracted from musing about the health of my bank balance and whether I would actually be able to afford to eat for the rest of the month by the lure of the 'hands on' displays. Much like the exhibits these activities came in all shapes and sizes from climbing walls to makeshift diving pools, though the most entertaining in my opinion was probably one of the simplest. Slack lining, (effectively tight rope walking with a wide belt instead of a rope) was suprisingly good fun, though I can think of few quicker ways of breaking an ankle or a neck especially if I'm involved in any way. Despite the risk we both thought that as we were passing it would be rude not to join the line and give it a try. From the photo's you can clearly see that Rob (above), having done this sort of thing before was actually pretty good (yes I realise he's still standing on the box in the picture, just take my word for it) whereas my own attempts (below) were somewhat less elegant.

Having survived unscathed we moved on to the Ireland stand (pretty much every country had a stand somewhere in the hall) where we were drawn in with the chance of winning a shiny new mountain bike on their racing bike simulator. To be fair to the guy running the competition he did make it clear that their fancy simulator was not your run of the mill gym bike and that we might find it rather harder than it appeared. Now whilst I'm certainly no marathon runner I try to keep myself reasonably fit and so with a large measure of bravado and despite the warning I scoffed at the suggestion that a couple of miles on the bike would be any hardship. Two minutes later I was rummaging hastily through my bag for my water bottle whilst trying desperately to catch my breath and two minutes after that, Rob was likewise engaged. To give him credit the guy refrained from a snide "I told you so" but his look frankly said it much more succinctly. To those of you left wondering, no we did not win the bike.

Changing the topic completely, those of you who are paying attention may have noticed a few changes to the blog recently. I now have a nice map showing my proposed route which was unabashedly pinched from Mark Moxon's excellent site (link can obviously be found in my links list) which I would thoroughly recommend a visit to if you find yourself with the internet and a spare five minutes. One major new addition that I'm sure you've already noticed, is the shiny new link to my sponsorship page which can be found in pride of place at the top of the page. I suggest that each and every one of you give that handy 'Donate' button a bit of a click and have a little shufty at my newly set up Just Giving page. I've set myself a target to raise £1000 for Katharine House Hospice and with your generosity and assistance I'm hoping we can exceed that figure before the completion of my trundle in August/September. Now I realise my donations page says it all really, but this is important so it's worth reiterating here. Please, please, please show your support for my challenge this summer by heading on over there and donating whatever you can afford to those who need it most. I would also ask that anyone reading this please implore your family, friends and works colleagues to join you with donations of their own. A penny a mile (£11) or even a single pound, can and will make a difference so please dig deep, spread the word, and do your bit for an excellent cause.

Until next time,

Thanks Folks

Boots, Blisters And A Wayward Pint

Hullo again folks.

First off apologies for the absence of posts for the last few weeks, especially given that I promised to up date you with random nonsense on a regular basis. In my defence I've been pretty busy recently and when trying to decide between actually getting some sleep and updating my ramblings, poor old Mr Blog is inevitably going to end up with a bad case of negligence. On the plus side, by August you're all going to be pretty sick of reading about my exploits so consider this somewhat disjointed blogging phase my way of easing you in. You're Welcome.

So I've been busy then have I? Easy thing to say I suppose and certainly the best excuse I can come up with after a long day at work. Nonetheless it's actually a pretty accurate description of the last few weeks of my life, though when trying to work a full time job and prepare for a three month mammoth trek (sadly without the mammoths) I should probably expect to be a little busy. To make matters even more complicated for myself I've spent the last couple of weekends moving out of my awesome little country retreat and back to the comfort of home. I'm a bit sad to be leaving the place, but it's been a great little pad for the last 6 months and if I'm going to save a few more pennies before the summer I really can't be affording to pay half my salary in rent every month. Despite the move, route planning, birthday celebrations (yes I'm talking about you Gaz) and general weekend jobs, I've still managed to find a bit of time to get out into the countryside and break in my fancy new boots.

Most of you I'm sure have at some point purchased or had purchased for them a new pair of shoes. You will know full well then that breaking-in the aforementioned footwear is not a task to be relished and in my opinion is one of the best arguments against shoe shopping besides its overwhelming tedium (sorry girls but its true). Walking boots being generally studier than your average pair of trainers require considerably more miles of tramping before they mould themselves to the shape of your feet. My boots in particular seem to have taken this period of shape transition as a personal affront to their dignity and as a form of protest have taken it upon themselves to shred my feet to buggery. Next time I plan to walk this sort of distance I think I'll get myself a pair of flip flops!!

Despite the blisters, I've managed to get through my first proper practice weekend relatively unscathed. Those of you who expected my lack of any apparent sense of direction to be an issue (and I would count myself within that group) will be disappointed to hear that the OS maps appear to be fairly idiot proof and apart from a short detour at one point I found my way without major incident. This was probably somewhat aided by the fact that I decided for my first practice weekend I'd stick to one of the way marked national trails and given that I live in Stafford, the Staffordshire Way seemed to be the obvious choice. Also, as my End to End walk in the summer will be taking in much of the Staffordshire Way on its journey through the Midlands I already had the maps tucked away in my collection.

The plan for the day was a trek of roughly 14 miles from the outskirts of Uttoxeter across country to the residence of Lord Lichfield at Shugborough. I must admit I was a little nervous at first as my folks dropped me off in the suburbs of Uttoxeter. All I had was a couple of bottles of water, a bundle of tracker bars (see my Tracker Tracker) and my map and whilst this was hardly going to be a trek through the Sahara or Amazon rainforest, I've not really had to rely on my own map reading before and I didn't really want to end the day in Plymouth. After crossing the first few fields and stiles my worries had pretty much disappeared, the Staffordshire Way is fantastically well way marked (at least the bits I've walked thus far have been) and seeing that marker on the gate you think the map is pointing you towards is a huge confidence booster to the rookie navigator. The majority of the first half of this walk is across farmland, following hedgerows and field boundaries as it winds its way slowly south towards the village of Abbots Bromley. The views can't honestly be described as spectacular, but to someone who works in an industrial estate, the wild hedgerows and deserted woodlands were pretty enough and served as a good reminder that there is still a lot of green places in this country if you get off the beaten track.

Unfortunately the one downside of spending a morning rambling across fields and over stiles is that by the time I arrived in the village of Abbots Bromley for a spot of lunch I looked less like an adventurous hiker and more like the local vagrant. Of course I then compounded my outcast status by entering the first pub I came to and being confronted by room full of happy families, smartly attired and enjoying a well deserved weekend lunch out. It was a little bit like you see in the westerns where a stranger enters the saloon and the conversation in the room dies as all eyes are turned towards the door. Of course the conversation soon started up again as I took a seat at the only single table in the place though now I felt certain it was mostly centred around the filthy hobo who had wandered into their midst and interrupted their lovely meal. I obviously took the English response to this situation and pretended like nothing was amiss, though this was made somewhat harder moments later when I took off my coat and flung my freshly purchased pint off the table and all over the floor. Once again the room went silent and I could feel the stares boring into the back of my head as I dabbed pathetically at the spillage with my elaborately folded napkin. The rest of my 'meal' was spent screwing my toes into the floor and trying to set a new record for the fastest consumption of a toasted sandwich.

Understandably I rejoined the trail with something of a relief after lunch and was happy to leave Abbots Bromley behind me which was something of a shame, as the village itself is exceedingly photogenic and I would have enjoyed exploring the place a little more extensively. But for now that would have to wait till I passed this way again in the summer I still had quite a way to go before I could stop for the day. The afternoon was a continuation of the farmland theme from the morning though it was broken up somewhat a couple of miles south of Abbots Bromley by Blithfield Reservoir where I spent a few minutes watching the windsurfers whizzing across the water when they weren’t busy falling off. After that, it was back to the fields and stiles and I found myself drifting off into a happy little walking trance only to find myself leaping twelve feet into the air seconds later as a loud explosion erupted from the middle of the field. Apparently the farmers of the Staffordshire have decided that the traditional scarecrows of the past no longer cut the mustard and have instead decided to fire off air cannons at random intervals to scare off the birds and give heart attacks to random passers by.

Fortunately I soon left the exploding farmland behind and joined the towpath of the Trent & Mersey Canal on the outskirts of Rugely. As I trundled along the towpath my map now largely redundant, I wondered why it is that the elaborately decorated and clearly well loved narrow boats were almost always tied up next to a rusting hulk in serious need of some TLC. Is it to make their own boats look better by comparison or do they hope to inspire the run down boats to turn over a new leaf and re-enter the 'civilised' world. I thought briefly of my incident at the pub at lunchtime and found myself quietly rooting for the rusty tub rather than its decadent neighbour. By this point the sun was starting to get quite low in the sky and whilst it wasn't dark yet I reckoned in another hour or so it would be. I had no intention of getting caught out in the dark and whilst I knew I was on the final straight I wasn't really sure how far down the towpath my destination lay. So I put my head down, ignored the growing pain in my feet and upped the pace. Of course having done this within twenty minutes I was crossing the bridge over the canal and into the grounds of shugborough and I couldn't help but feel my redoubled efforts a bit pointless. Ah well the important thing was that I had made it, and what’s more I had enjoyed it. This is just as well really as I've certainly got a lot more days like this one to come and without the luxury of a proper bed at the end of them, but its best to start easy and work up to that I reckon.

I also reckon that I've rambled on for far too long now and that you're probably getting a bit bored of reading by now so I'll be merciful and wind things up. Rest assured that once I'm on the road for real and writing my blog entry’s by torchlight in my tent they will be somewhat shorter and probably even less coherent if that’s possible. I'll be back with more ramblings in the next couple of weeks where I'll talk about my visit to the Outdoors Show at the NEC and a variety of other assorted nonsense

Until next time folks.

A Man, A Plan And A Box Full Of Maps

Hi folks and welcome to my humble little blog. Most (if not all) already know me, but for those fortunate few who don't allow me to introduce myself. My name is Chris, I'm 23, I live in Stafford in the Midlands and I have a plan.

It all started the same way that many such schemes do, with a Friday afternoon daydream at work. We've all been there, it’s the end of a long week, the clock appears to have set up camp at 4:30 and the mind starts to wander in search of a mental shelter from the tedium. My refuge on this particular Friday was the view from the window of our stuffy office. Looking out beyond the industrial units and idling lorries of the estate I could just glimpse the hazy outline of green hills on the horizon. Anyone who has worked at a computer all day will vouch that at times the urge to abandon the thing and go stretch your legs is a hard one to resist and at that moment I would have liked nothing better than to strike out across country in search of those hills. Sadly my employers would probably have frowned upon an impromptu afternoon hike so I resigned myself to simply contemplating the logistics of such a trek. How many miles would it be? Could I walk it in one day? Come to think of it, just how far could I even walk in one day? Such questions eventually led to their inevitable conclusion: Could I, a relatively inexperienced hiker walk from one end of the country to the other? For most this would just be a fleeting thought no sooner dreamt up as dissipated but for some reason the question refused to stop circulating through my mind. Could I really do it?

I thought of my Granddad after he had completed the Coast to Coast with his mate Reg and his satisfaction at not only finishing, but doing so in well under the average time scale. I remember the fondness with which he used to talk about his exploits on the trail and I new that he for one would tell me to grab life by the scruff of the neck and run with it. So I did.

To cut a long story short, after a spot of internet research and a long conversation with my folks I became the proud owner of more ordinance survey maps than I'm certain is healthy for one individual to have. The reason for this cartographical extravagance was two fold;

First the route I had decided to take covers 54 1:25000 OS maps on its journey through the country and given my ability to get lost in even the most familiar setting I figured I would need each and every one of them to stand a chance.

Second I thought that the best way to invest myself in this endeavour was to 'invest' in the endeavour. There's no backing out when you've got a house filled to the brim with maps and the bill to go with it.

Now that there was no risk of backing out I started to form the framework of my plan. Going off recommendations from the web I decided to walk the route from Lands End to John O’ Groats otherwise know as the LEJOG, with an aim to start towards the end of May. The benefit of doing it this way around at this time is that I should miss the summer crowds of Cornwall and the weather should get more summery (though this is Britain so that’s all relative really) as I plod my way North where it is generally colder. Of course this does mean that I will be getting to Scotland bang in the middle of midge season but I’ll deal with those little buggers when I have to.

My next decision was who I should try to raise money for with this little adventure of mine. I’ve always wanted to do something for charity but besides for the occasional donation to children in need and a day dressed as a monk for comic relief when I was 10, I’ve yet to really contribute. With a challenge of this magnitude I think this is finally my opportunity to raise some serious cash for those who need it most. To that end, I’ve decided that I will be hiking this summer for the Katharine House Hospice in order to repay in some small way the excellent care that they gave to my own grandparents in their time of need as well as the hundreds of others that depend upon them each and every day. I implore each and every one of you to take 2 minutes out of your day and head on over to their site (linky is on the blog) and read for yourself about the work they do for the community. I shall be setting up the sponsorship in conjunction with Katharine House over the coming weeks, so when the opportunity comes I only ask that you spare what you can with the knowledge that every single penny is greatly appreciated.

So there I am, a man with a plan and a giant box of maps. Over the next few months I'll be hammering down my route, adding to my pile of equipment, and desperately trying to bash myself into shape before the big day. Along the way I’ll try my best to keep you up to date with my joys, sorrows and frustrations as I make the preparations for the longest walk of my life.

Until then, happy daydreaming to you all!